Survivor
by ErinSong
Summary: Just another day, another anomaly. But, when is life ever that simple? K  for safety. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1: Is That A Raptor?

Chapter One: Is That A Raptor?

**A/N: I actually give up. I wrote 500 words for this original chapter. **_**500 words.**_** And I always injure my favourite characters! Right, this is all changing...**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Primeval, this would actually happen in the series. But better. Like, a **_**lot**_** better.**

The last shoppers ambled out of the store, chatting cheerily as they inspected their new purchases. The owner, a tall raven-haired man with warm brown eyes, waved them off, turning the sign on the door to 'closed'.

He pressed a blue button on the wall, causing the shutters to rumble shut, then strode to the back of the shop and up a crooked staircase in the corner. At the top, he paused and looked around at the now-familiar surroundings. A small, narrow corridor led to a door at the end, passing three others on the way: the bathroom, the study, and his son's room.

Taylor Walker was the only family that he, Justin, had left. His wife had died when Taylor was only one, and Taylor and he had had to move out when they couldn't pay the bills any more. That was when they had taken up the shop.

Justin had always known his son was quiet; but he was never this quiet. Taylor just hadn't been himself lately, and Justin was getting more worried by the day - he could even swear that Taylor had become paler. _Ah, it's probably just hormones,_ he thought, shaking his head and walking to the door at the end: his bedroom. He went in, stripping to his boxers and climbing into the bed. He fell asleep almost immediately.

In the shop downstairs, a metallic hum vibrated through the air as a silver ball of light appeared right in the middle of the shop, pulsating slightly. Nothing moved for a few minutes, but then the light convulsed more rapidly, and a snout poked cautiously through the shining ball. A head and body followed, revealing a small greyish raptor of slim build, barely a metre tall.

It sniffed at the air, its already large eyes widening as it seemed to smell something. It whipped around, skirting the now gently pulsing portal. It reached a narrow staircase, and, glancing one more time at the scantily illuminated store, it took the stairs two at a time; stalking slowly down the hall, stopping at the third door down suspiciously.

It shook its head, carrying on to the door at the end, nudging the slightly ajar door fully open. Immediately spying the man asleep, it narrowed its eyes and, snarling viciously, leapt at the bed.

Far away, an alarm shattered the silence, causing a young woman to put down her coffee cup and start typing furiously. She pressed a button on the earpiece she was wearing, flicking back her brown hair and calling out orders.

"Jess -" Matt, the team leader, hurried in, running a hand over his stubble. He peered over her shoulder impatiently.

"Just getting the co-ordinates," Jess replied, tapping the keyboard impatiently as the red dot honed in on the exact location. She tapped a button, and the small monitor in Matt's hand beeped. "Here we go - sending them now."

"Got it," Matt rushed off, pulling Connor after him and grabbing his coat on the way.

"Becker," Connor nodded amicably to the Captain.

"Abby still on sick leave?"

"Yeah." Connor shook his head and sighed as they got in the car. "We'll have to do this one without her."

The raptor twisted its head from side to side, pupils dilating and shrinking again in the changing light of the lava lamp on the bedside table. It eventually snapped angrily at the night light, splintering it into small pieces and splattering red-hot liquid all over the walls. Roaring in pain and frustration, the raptor swung round and stalked out of the room, leaving the carnage it had created behind it.

Again, it stopped outside the same door it had stopped outside before, jerking its head back when a creak came from inside. It growled and butted the door, pushing it inwards silently. A boy was crouched on the bed by the wall; his eyes squeezed shut as he prayed that it wouldn't see him. It was turning to leave when he started to cough uncontrollably; the raptor whipped round and leapt at him, succeeding in ripping a chunk from his shoulder.

The boy yelled in pain and collapsed, but, before it could do any more damage, it recoiled from the prone figure as a crash sounded from the stairs. It turned to face the door just as two figures burst into the room, another one not far behind. The first figure held up a strange-looking barrel-thing: it exploded in the raptor's face, and then everything went black.

"That _was_ just a weak setting, right?" Connor pushed past the others to examine the raptor, nodding once he had checked it was breathing. "Good. Abby would have killed you!"

Suddenly, he noticed the boy on the floor. "Ah. What happened to him?" Matt joined him by the bed while Becker walked off down the corridor, inspecting each room with his taser gun as he went by. "Did the raptor bite him or something? Is he...alive?"

"Yes, but barely." Matt paused. "That bite was deep, but it wouldn't have caused this much damage in such a short time..." he pondered on this thought whilst Connor inspected the raptor and told him it was a Coelophysis from the early Jurassic Period.

"Matt. There's a body," Becker had appeared at the door and he jerked a thumb back down the corridor where he had just come from.

Matt immediately stood up, marching out and telling Connor to stay in the room with the boy and the raptor. Connor nervously glanced at the raptor, then at Becker, who just shrugged and followed Matt.

The carnage in the room of the murder was huge: the raptor must have broken the lava lamp, as it was all over the wall, and there were bloody smears on the walls and the mirror of the wardrobe. Becker led Matt to the other side of the bed, and that was when he saw the dead man: his face and stomach had been savagely ripped open; blood was still trickling out of the gashes, adding to the pool already seeping into the floor.

"Poor man," Matt murmured. "Do you think he was married?"

"No." Becker pulled out a small touch-screen monitor, poking it a few times and showing Matt the contents. "Apparently, his wife died 14 years ago - the kid was only 1. The guy's name is..." he glanced at the top of the screen. "...Justin. Justin Walker. The kid is Taylor."

"Right. So now the boy's an orphan." Matt shook his head. "What should we do with him?"

"Well, first we should call in the backup to dispose of him, then -"

"No, no: the boy. I meant _the boy_. What shall we do with _him_?"

"Oh. We'll have to keep him in our infirmary until we're sure he doesn't remember or he's sworn to secrecy. But he'll have to regain consciousness before we can know."

Suddenly, Connor's voice drifted down the corridor. "Guys: he's waking up..."

Matt left Becker in the bedroom and sprinted back to Connor and the raptor, praying that the boy hadn't seen it yet. He called ahead: he wasn't getting there fast enough.

"Don't let him see the -"

"Is...is that a raptor?" a weak voice interrupted Matt's sentence as he skidded to a halt at the door.

"...Raptor..."

The boy was knelt on the floor, midnight blue eyes filled with confusion and his face a mask of disbelief. He went to stand up. Almost immediately, he fell to his knees, groaning in pain and almost blacking out again. Connor almost wished he had - this whole mess would be _so_ much easier. But, when was life ever easy? The boy pushed himself back up just as Becker joined Matt in the doorway; he could only stare at the unconscious raptor on the floor.

"Woah..." he trailed off uncertainly. "A Coelophysis... wow..." the boy had a surprisingly high voice, as if his voice hadn't broken properly. He had a slight Welsh accent. Looking up at Connor as he struggled into a standing position, he asked a surprising question. "Is it... dead?"

"What? Oh, no, it's just unconscious." He then did a double take. "Wait - how are you - why aren't you... well, y'know, panicking...?" Connor stumbled over his words, shaking his head in bemusement, but Matt interrupted before he could make even more of a fool of himself.

"Hi, you must be Taylor. I'm Matt; this is Connor and Captain Becker. Nice to meet you." he held out his hand, then grabbed Taylor as his eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed; lifting him up by the armpits, Matt slung him over his shoulder and heading for the staircase. Becker followed suit with the raptor, motioning for Connor to follow. He shook his head, sighed, and left the room.

Becker shifted the raptor slightly on his shoulder as he motioned to the man next to the anomaly, which was now very small. He tapped a few buttons on the small device beside it, and the shimmering mass expanded back to its original size.

Just as he was about to go through and return the raptor, the anomaly shivered and a boy leapt out, startling the man next to him. Within less than a second the boy had turned around and reached into the anomaly. He strained, as if dragging something heavy, and a hand appeared through the anomaly.

Pushing the words through gritted teeth, the boy spoke. "Please - help me get him through."

Becker lay down the raptor and rushed to help as Matt appeared round the corner. He nodded to Matt and they both grabbed the man's arm, which was now further through, and pulled. Something was pulling this man back though, and the struggle was still in progress when Connor entered: but, before he could help, a voice came through the anomaly, thick with pain.

"Nearly there -" the voice was cut off by a yell, but those two words were enough to freeze Connor in his tracks.

"Connor - what are you waiting for? Help us!" Matt jerked his head at Connor, gesturing for him to join them. Connor didn't move. He turned back to the anomaly and resumed pulling on the arm. Eventually, the person on the other side tumbled through, confirming Connor's worst fears, and he could only choke out one word:

"Stephen!"


	2. Chapter 2: Conspiracy Theories

Chapter Two: Conspiracy Theories

**A/N: Well, MOST of it changed...**

**Disclaimer: No. I'm afraid not.**

Stephen Hart lay on the floor, his leg bleeding from various bite marks. His head snapped up at the sound of his name - he stared at Connor in a mixture of recognition and incredulity, then shook his head. He murmured to the boy, who turned to Connor and inspected him curiously.

"_You're_ Connor?" he said it more of a statement than a question. "Wow. Stephen's told me _all_ about you."

"Luke - now is really _not_ the time..." Stephen had picked himself up and was leaning on Becker for support. "Connor? What - what year is it?"

"Three years after _you_ died," Connor narrowed his eyes suspiciously, and Stephen winced. Not out of pain.

"Oh."

"So, you didn't die?"

"Err... no; Helen, well, saved me. She wanted to travel through anomalies with me. But I declined," Stephen added hurriedly. "She was... angry, so she abandoned me in the Jurassic Period. I've spent 3 years looking for you, and now... I finally found you!"

"How did you know where the anomalies were?"

Stephen showed Connor an anomaly detector, smiling. "I make a surprisingly good pickpocket."

"Um, excuse me," Matt waved a hand. "What the hell is going on here? Great reunion, yes, but - _who the hell are you_?"

"Oh, right: this is Stephen. Stephen, meet Matt and Becker. They're part of the team now, after..." Connor trailed off, staring at the floor, shuffling his feet nervously. Stephen's eyes widened.

"What happened? Connor, _what happened_?"

"Cutter... Cutter is -" Connor breathed in, finally looking Stephen in the eye. "He's dead. Along with Sarah and Danny, who joined after you... after you _died_. You _died_, Stephen..."

The boy, Luke, cut in. "I know this is a lot to take in, but can we get back to the ARC first?" The mention of the ARC caught Matt off guard, and he frowned at Luke. "Please? I mean, with two injured people, I don't really think we can hang around too long."

The jet-black car sped down the motorway, the occupants talking animatedly. Connor had explained to Stephen all that had happened since Stephen had "died", including the renovations of the ARC. Stephen had then in turn told Connor about his adventures: after Helen had locked him in one dimension, he stole her anomaly opener and travelled through anomalies.

He had met Luke whilst on his travels - he had been trapped after going through an anomaly into the Jurassic period, and Stephen had saved him from a raptor similar to the one they had found. When Connor asked where Luke came from in the human world, an awkward silence ensued and he had a slight suspicion that Stephen and Luke were lying.

"So, that's how we got here," Stephen finished. "Anyway, who's the boy?"

"He lives in the house. The raptor bit him, but we think he was already ill. His only biological parent is now dead, so we can't just take him to hospital," Becker explained, motioning to the prone body in the back seat. "We won't know how much he knows until he wakes up."

Luke was watching Taylor inquisitively out of the corner of his eye, looking him up and down but mainly focusing on his face. He turned at the last sentence and smiled.

"You sound like a secret agent in a big conspiracy, you know that?"

They all laughed, and it seemed to take a weight off their shoulders.

"Hey Jess," said Becker as he entered the hub, Connor, Luke and Stephen following. Luke waved cheerily, glancing around at the machinery and clearly impressed. He stopped behind Jess' station next to Becker and peered over her shoulder at all the controls.

"Wow, I finally get to see all of this," he watched carefully as Jess tapped lightly on the keyboard, bringing up a huge map of Britain on two of the six plasma screens in front of them, and gazed up at the numerous readings scrolling across the remaining four. "Can you show me how it works?"

Jess smiled amicably. "Of course - but I must warn you, it's complicated."

"Oh, I'm sure I can figure it out." At this, her smile turned wicked.

"Really now?"

Stephen chuckled as she began explaining seriously complex equations and coding sequences, turning to Becker who looked just as bemused.

"So, you must be Captain Becker. Have you ever done any animal tracking?"

Three days later, Taylor Walker woke up in hospital. A young boy about his age was sat by the bed, watching him with curiosity. His curly brown hair fell into his eyes, and he tilted his head to one side when he noticed he was awake.

"Hi." he smiled gently.

Taylor nodded weakly, attempting to sit up. He winced as pain shot through his shoulder, but still sat up anyway. The other boy looked concerned.

"Are you alright?"

Taylor nodded again, laying his head back on the pillow as he waited for the pain to dull.

"So... where am I? What happened?" he suddenly remembered the raptor. "The raptor... is - is it real?"

"Yup. It came from the past, through an anomaly," Luke explained. "Basically rips in time and space; they can lead to the past, the future, wherever and whenever."

"Right." _More like animatronics,_ he thought with a raised eyebrow. "Wait - dad was there: what... where is he?" Taylor was suddenly worried. Where_ was_ he? Was he... no, of course not. He couldn't think like that. Of course his father was okay: nothing bad could have -

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Luke stared at the floor instead, shifting uncomfortably on the seat. Taylor's worst fears were awoken again, and he grabbed Luke's arm in fear.

"What happened? _Tell me_."

"He... I'm so sorry, Taylor, he... I don't know what to say..."

"No. No..." Taylor gave a choked sob and squeezed his eyes shut, tears leaking out of the corners and sliding down his cheeks as he mourned for his father. Luke shook his head sadly and left the room as unobtrusively as possible.


	3. Chapter 3: Sweet Dreams

Chapter Three: Sweet Dreams

**A/N: Worst. Chapter. Name. Ever. Fail.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, not all birthday wishes come true...**

_He looked over to the horizon: two silhouettes stood tall as they talked in the dusk, their speech a light murmur on the breeze. He wondered what they wanted to talk about. They were always talking, discussing things he would never know about. Not for a long time, anyway._

_When the sun disappeared below the cliffs he began to find sticks to create a fire for dinner, and, when the flames were strong enough, he placed three small leaf-wrapped bundles at the edge. Soon a rich aroma filled the air, and the silhouettes turned towards him and grew closer, slowly taking the shape of a man and woman._

_He turned back to the fire, poking it to create more heat. When turned back, there were three figures. Almost in slow motion, he leapt up and ran, watching helplessly as the third figure attacked; as the other two fought; as they all got closer to the edge of the cliff; as one of them was pushed off. As he reached them and watched her tumble, fall onto the rocks far below. As another followed her. As he turned back to the third figure, horror etched onto his face while tears fell shamelessly._

"_No: _Mum..._."_

Luke woke up to find Stephen holding him tightly and murmuring his name.

"Luke? Luke... Oh god, not another nightmare... Please, not now... They can't know..."

"It's okay, dad, I'm okay." he sat up rather shakily and Stephen hugged him all the tighter. "Really, I'll be fine. Anyway, they have sedatives here, don't they?"

"Yeah." Stephen chuckled. "Just be careful, yeah? Don't get stuck in there, not again. Not after last time."

Luke assured him he was all right, and finally persuaded him to leave. But he didn't sleep. He couldn't. After Stephen's gentle reminder of the last time he got trapped, he didn't dare to close his eyes until he had gotten hold of those sedatives. They would help his nightmares, he was sure of it.

Morning couldn't come fast enough. Luke got dressed and wandered about the ARC, exploring the locked doors with his new wristband. He pored over scientific instruments, gazed down at the mammoth and various other creatures, and fiddled with the not yet turned on computers. His interest was caught by one of the labs, though: a shiny metal structure full of papers and odd gadgets. It was restricted, of course. Property of 'Prosper', apparently.

He waved his wrist over the door mechanism many times to no avail, but still he persevered. Looking around he noticed a small air vent that might lead into the lab, and, after pulling off the cover, he found he could just about squeeze in, and wriggled around the tight bends in the rough direction of the lab.

After kicking out the vent cover, Luke landed on one of the tables and accidentally kicked off most of the papers on it. He hurriedly gathered them up: they were covered in blueprints and equations, depicting strange calculator devices and many complicated line drawings that formed some sort of map. Noticing a gadget that looked like one of the blueprints, he picked it up and pressed a button. The small screen started blipping and four numbers appeared on it, changing rapidly and finally settling on 2010.

"The year? Maybe it calculates the year..." pondering on this thought he pressed the button again to make sure. This time the number that showed was -296,050,301. "Obviously not..."

He continued to press the button, oblivious to the slight shimmer in the air behind him. When he did turn around, the anomaly was fully formed and pulsating gently, and he stared in surprise at it. Horror slowly crept across his face as he realised: he was in a locked room with an anomaly. And no one knew where he was.

"Taylor. Taylor Walker." hair flopping over his eyes again, Taylor peered shyly at the man on the other side of the table. "Is that okay?"

"Perfect." The man nodded and adjusted the laptop's webcam. "Now, Taylor, could you tell me what happened? Start from the beginning; when did you realise the raptor was in your house?"

"Well, when I heard scratching at the door I went to investigate. There was nothing there, so I went back to my room. It was..." he paused, blinking rapidly as he struggled to remain dry-eyed. "It was when I heard the... screaming... that I knew something was wrong. Dad had always told me to stay in my room if anything ever... happened, and so I did: until the raptor came in, anyway."

"Could you explain what sort of things your father might have expected to... happen?"

"Burglars, thugs, that kind of thing, you know? He... he didn't want me to get... hurt, or..." Taylor trailed off as one tear ran down his cheek. He hurriedly brushed it away as the man nodded curtly.

The man finished packing away the laptop, and suddenly pressed his hand to his ear as the tinny sound of a voice filtered out. It was obviously giving him a command. He nodded curtly and marched to the door, turning and telling Taylor to "stay put". And with that, he was gone.

Taylor sighed irritably and settled back in his chair, folding his arms and wondering when someone would let him out of there. Being alone and helpless was not one of his preferences. Admittedly, he wasn't the fittest of people, but he did like to study creatures in their natural habitats rather than online or inside. Learning about animals' mannerisms was one thing, but actually witnessing it was a totally different experience. Either way, he didn't like it when he was stuck in a small room while people fought dinosaurs outside.

The harsh wailing of a siren cut through the conversations of the hub, causing Connor and Matt to leap over to Jess' station. They were closely followed by Becker and Stephen.

"Just getting the co-ordinates..." Jess trailed off as the co-ordinates popped up on the screen. "...umm... guys?"

"What is it, Jess?" Becker's voice at her elbow made her jump. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, the anomaly, it's right here." gesturing down the corridor to the left, Jess looked nervously at the faces around her. "In one of the labs, actually."

Connor's face had gone unnaturally pale.

"Is it..." he gulped apprehensively as if he didn't want to hear the answer. "Is it at the end? On the right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. How did you know?"

But, before she could answer, Connor had gone haring off down the corridor, Matt and Stephen right behind him. Becker shrugged apologetically at Jess, and, with a quick "sorry", he was gone too.

"Connor, what's going on?" Stephen panted, drawing alongside his old friend. "What's in that lab?"

"It's _my_ lab, for research on the anomalies. If that paperwork gets destroyed, all my research will be lost..." Connor trailed off as he reached the door of his precious lab, turning to face Stephen and gripping his shoulders. "I can't let that happen, Stephen; I just _can't_."

Stephen nodded resolutely. Spinning back to face the lab, Connor swiped his wristband across the magnetic stripe and strode confidently forward. A loud "thunk" sounded as his head met solid steel, and he stumbled backwards in confusion.

"Wha -?" he rubbed the sore patch on his forehead. "Why didn't it open?"

"This is steel," Stephen explained. "Isn't the anomaly magnetic or something?"

"Of course, the magnetic force of the anomaly is muddling the sensors and the door mechanism," Connor clapped Stephen on the back, grinning broadly. He then elaborated when he saw the bemusement on his colleague's face. "You know, like in that kitchen with the Spaghetti Junction of anomalies?"

Stephen's face cleared as he understood, then clouded in confusion again as he stared over Connor's shoulder. He pointed.

"...Luke?"


End file.
